The invention relates to garment bags, and in particular, garment bags which can be altered on demand to provide greater depth to accommodate a larger number of garments on hangers than would otherwise be possible. More particularly, the invention relates to hanger bar and retainer system for the garments on hangers normally suspended within the garment bag's main packing section.
Garment bags have included a zipper track mechanism positioned in the rail or gusset portion of the garment bag which permits the garment bag to have two thicknesses or depths. This zipper arrangement is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,367, herein incorporated by reference. In general, this zipper arrangement comprises a zipper track which extends beyond a full periphery of the rail portions of the garment bag to close upon itself. Between the separate zipper tracks is a fabric panel or gusset which can be folded up on action of the zipper, closing the zipper track. In this way, the rails of the garment bag can be expanded to accommodate the extra depth defined by this fabric section. A simple bar-like device for retaining hangers has been provided in these types of garment bags. The hanger bar includes one, and perhaps two, rectangular shaped loops of steel bar, the bar having a diameter of about 0.25". The loop is provided with a hinge, approximately in its middle, to permit the outer ends of the bar loop to pivot at right angles to the vertical plane. The non-pivoted portion of the bar is fixed to the upper rail of the garment bag. When the garment bag is in its collapsed state or, in other words, when the zipper is closed to fold up the cloth section, the hanger bar is normally folded to present a fairly short bar portion to accommodate hangers. When the zipper track arrangement is operated to expand the cloth section. The user may pivot the outer end of the bar loop outward to present an elongated bar section for hanging a greater number of garments on hangers. This pivotal hanger bar arrangement is sized to accommodate primarily the pivoting-hook type hangers, sometimes called "Gooseneck" type hangers, rather than the hooked portions of ordinary closet-type hangers. If the user places a hooked portion of the hanger over such a hanger bar, there is no effective means for retaining the hooked portion in place over the hanger bar. Thus, it is likely that the hooked portion will become disengaged from the bar and the garments thereon will fall to the bottom of the garment bag causing undue wrinkling of those garments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,854, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, shows a telescoping hanger bar which includes a spool-like member which can be extended to a situation wherein the hooked portions of hangers can be placed over the hanger bar. When locked in the collapsed position, the hangers are retained beneath a concave surface on the inside of the hanger bar construction. When the telescoping hanger bar is in its extended position, there is no mechanism for retaining the hooked portion of the hangers, nor is there means provided for locking the spool-like portion of the hanger bar in this extended position. Thus, while the telescoping operation has great benefit when packing, it is relatively unusable for accommodating the greater packing capacity of garment bags of the type described above.